Held in Rabat (Morocco), September 26-28, 2017, the regional dialogue on Nationally Determined Contributions (CDN) for Africa was the 4th and largest edition of the CDN Africa dialogues organized since 2015 to advance the Paris agreement. To date, these dialogues have benefited more than 150 countries through 3 global workshops and 15 regional dialogues.

The meeting was organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP); the secretariat of the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); and the State Secretariat for Sustainable Development in Morocco in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the NDC Partnership. This dialogue was supported by the governments of Japan, Norway and the European Union and welcomed the government representatives of 50 African countries as well as international organizations and experts involved in the process of implementing the CDN.

In the continuity of the COP22 initiatives and in preparation for the COP23, the objective of this dialogue was to support countries in the process of implementing their CDN submitted under the Paris agreement on climate change.

Participants had the opportunity to:

-Share the experiences, good practices, opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of the NDCs in Africa

-Identify gaps in capacity building and needs related to the implementation of the NDCs in Africa and formulate recommendations for solutions to address these gaps and needs

-Discuss the implementation of the NDCs at local and regional level, taking into account policies, actions and incentives to be committed

-Deal with issues relating to the financing and involvement of the private sector in the implementation of the NDCs

-Discuss ways to integrate gender equity and women's empowerment in the implementation and planning of the CDN

New Partnership between 4 C and UCLG Africa

A partnership agreement was signed on September 26, 2017 between the Moroccan Climate Change Competence Centre (4 C) and the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa).

The partnership agreement aims to promote cooperation between the two institutions in the preparation and joint implementation of projects and initiatives in the area of capacity building and the fight against climate change at local, national and regional level.

It aims to:

- Support and facilitate the implementation of the CDN at the territorial level

- Develop tools and methods to design, implement, monitor and evaluate actions and projects to fight against climate change

- Train and strengthen the capacity of actors involved in the implementation of the CDN, including elected officials and local and regional government executives

- Establish a database of actions carried out at city and territorial level on climate change

- Support the establishment of an information exchange mechanism on climate change

- Develop South-South and North-South cooperation in the fight against climate change

- Support the implementation of international conventions, especially with regard to climate change

- Jointly research the financing of activities to be carried out under this agreement

Conclusions from the NDC dialogue session on local authorities, September 27, 2017

The second day of the meeting saw the morning devoted to the CDN dialogue on local authorities with the participation of the Secretary General of UCLG Africa, Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi.

The following conclusions were reached:

1. Agreement on the involvement of local authorities in the implementation of the NDCs

2. The implementation of NDCs needs to take a bottom-up approach and be localized to inspire local development plans, strategies and budgets

3. Multi-level government collaboration and a multi-stakeholders approach is needed to make the implementation of NDCs more inclusive

4. A platform is required that brings together all stakeholders and local authorities represented on the platform by their national associations. It was advised that an NDC and Climate Change focal point exist at the national association level in local authorities

5. Local authority initiatives need to be integrated in the reporting system and put in place to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the NDC. It is therefore necessary that local authorities master measuring, reporting and valuing the (MRV) process

6. Local authorities in Africa requested that a capacity building and technical assistance program be defined and implemented between now and entry into operation of the Green Climate Fund in order to be in a position to present eligible funding requests to climate finance facilities, including the green climate fund.

7. Participants welcomed a proposal by UCLG Africa to create a Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Task Force targeting African local and regional Authorities that identify institutions able to participate in the capacity building mission and the 4C Center in Morocco.